Collection Explorer

Bark painting of a rock wallaby.

2007.0053.1049

Bark painting of a rock wallaby.

Object information

Description

This frame is included in the NHC as an example of frames used in the ATSIAA collection.

Physical description

A painting on bark featuring a male kangaroo with brown line markings. The kangaroo is facing to the left of the painting. Wooden rods are attached to the top and bottom of the bark with string. On the reverse is a torn piece of discoloured white paper with obscured text 'by NABARD---? [NABARRAYAL'. Also on the reverse handwritten in black ink is '82 / M301' and in the bottom right corner handwritten in on a white rectangle is 'AAB/78/6388'. The painting is suspended in a perspex case by a metal mount. On the back of the case handwritten in black ink is 'DAA / 10064'. On the right hand side of the case handwritten in black ink is 'DAA-10064 / 786920'.

Statement of significance

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Art collection comprises 2050 artworks and other objects. The artworks - which numerically dominate the collection - were produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout Australia. The accumulation of these artworks into a single collection has resulted from the choices and selections made during a 38 year period by a variety of staff working for the Council for Aboriginal Affairs (CAA), the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (DAA), the Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) at the national, regional and local levels.

The collection spans the years following the 1967 referendum, when dramatic changes in the governance of Aboriginal people took place, up to 2005 when the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was dissolved. It provides a snapshot of the diversity and changes in Indigenous art and its representation which occurred during the period of its formation. The small number of 'non-art' objects in the collection is also significant in providing insights into the working of the various Commonwealth bodies involved in Indigenous affairs. As well as the significance of many of the individual pieces, the collection is also significant as a whole, as a complex artefact stemming from Australia's history of governance of Australian Indigenous peoples.